UNROLL
First light over a long stubble field below a small hill town; at the field’s near edge one great weathered gray boulder stands alone among thistles, under a calm pale-gold sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 20

A feast, an empty seat and three arrows: the day two friends learned the truth.

42 verses≈ 9 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–7SamuelA boy who listened
  2. 8–15SaulA king like the nations
  3. 16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heartChapter 20
  4. 21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
  5. 28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

Jonathan Helps David

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah.

David

He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”

Jonathan

“Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”

David

But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

Jonathan

Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”

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So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now. If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’ If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.

David

Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”

Jonathan

“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”

Question

Quick question

David needed to know the truth about Saul. He chose a day when his absence would be noticed.

Which feast would David miss at the king’s table?

Jonathan and David Renew Their Covenant

David

Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

Jonathan

“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.”

Late afternoon, seen from behind and a little above: Jonathan with his bow on his shoulder and David in a plain cloak walk side by side down a path between stubble fields, long shadows ahead of them, the great gray stone small at the far edge.

So the two of them went out into the field,

and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?

But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.

And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die, and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”

And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

1 Samuel 20:17

Jonathan
Evening at the king’s New Moon meal: Saul, huge and gray-bearded in a crimson cloak, sits on a cushioned bench by the plastered wall with his spear upright beside him, Abner beside him, Jonathan opposite; one place at the low table is set and untouched.

So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat. He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty. Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Saul

But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

Jonathan

Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

Reflect

Loving devotion

Jonathan asked David, “do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household.” It is the love that keeps its promises long after the feeling is tested. Whom have you promised to stand by? Write down what keeping faith with them would look like this month.

Saul Seeks to Kill Jonathan

Saul

Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

Jonathan

“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”

Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.

Night in the courtyard of Saul’s house: Jonathan sits alone on a stone step, head bowed, forearms on his knees, his back to the lit doorway of the hall; a full bowl of food untouched beside him.

Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.

In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him. He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.

But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement. Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

Morning by the great gray stone in the field: David and Jonathan embrace as brothers in farewell, both weeping, seen from a little distance; Jonathan’s bow lies in the stubble at their feet.

When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.

And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.

Pray

Go in peace

Two friends parted in tears, praying, “May the LORD be a witness between you and me.” Thank God for His loyal love, which never cuts off His people. Thank Him for the friends who have kept faith with you, and ask for grace to be that kind of friend.

You’ve experienced

1 Samuel 20

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A verse to carry with you

And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

1 Samuel 20:17

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